Portable hair dryer



' Filed Jan. 15, 1968 j 1970 D. kuhuw skl ET AL 3,487,555

PORTABLE HAI-R DRYER 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 6, 1970 0. T. KURLINSKI ET AL 3,487,555

PORTABLE HAIR DRYER I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 15, 1968 Fig. 4

, Fig. 5

Jan. 6, 1970 o. T. KURLINSKI ET AL 3,487,555

PORTABLE HAIR DRYER 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 15, 1968 United States Patent 3,487,555 PORTABLE HAIR DRYER Dale T. Kurlinslii, Canton, and George F. Carabet, North Canton, Ohio, assignors to The Hoover Company, North Canton, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Filed Ian. 15, 1968, Ser. No. 697,928 Int. Cl. A45d 20/14; F24h 3/04 U.S. Cl. 3499 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A portable hair dryer base unit having a motor, fan and a heater featuring a peripheral air inlet for the fan formed by mounting the upper and lower housing enclosure members in spaced relationship.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The popularity of the home hair dryer has increased significantly in recent years. In these units one generally known form has a motor, fan and an air heater housed in a separate casing with an air inlet to the casing as well as an air outlet to which a hose or a conduit is attached to convey the heated air to a hood which en closes the users hair. Air inlets to the casing have been arranged and constructed in different forms and the present invention is directed to an improved, efficient, and low cost method of providing the air inlet to the hair dryer base unit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION When the air inlet to the base unit of a home type hair dryer is placed on the upper side of the base unit, it is necessary to use a filter in the inlet to prevent foreign objects such as hair pins and the like from getting into the unit. Filters add to the cost and additionally decrease the efficiency of the fan system because of the pressure drop across the filter. Another serious problem is that the user may place an object such as a book or magazine over the inlet which may block off the air flow which may possibly damage the hair dryer. In fact, some manufacturers add caution notes to the dryers warning the user about this condition.

According to the present invention the air inlet is located at the side of the base unit and extends completely around the periphery of the unit. Thus it is practically impossible to have foreign objects fall into the air inlet and likewise it is highly improbable that the air inlet would be blocked inadvertently. It is also unnecessary to put a filter in the air inlet. The air inlet being large in diameter, according to our invention, provides a large area for the entrance of the air and improved efficiency of the fan system is obtained. The air inlet is located near the supporting surface and provides a convenient method of drying finger nail polish since the fingers can be rested conveniently on the surface supporting the hair drying unit.

A further object of our invention is to provide a downwardly facing periphery air inlet when the unit is in the operating position. This arrangement makes the inlet more inaccessible and less likely to become blocked.

A further object is to provide a low cost and a simple to manufacture air inlet construction.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention may be put into practice in various ways and two embodiments thereof are described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a hair dryer in closed or storage position.

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FIGURE 2 is a side elevation view of the hair dryer in storage position.

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation view of the hair dryer in open or operating position.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged side elevation view of the hair dryer in stored position with the hood cut away and shown in section.

FIGURE 5 is a side sectional view taken along the section line 55 of FIGURE 6 showing the construction of the base unit of the hair dryer.

FIGURE 6 is a top view of the base unit of the hair dryer with certain portions removed to show the internal construction of the base unit.

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken along the section line 77 of FIGURE 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The hair dryer has a generally frusto-conical shaped hood or bonnet 10 and a base housing 11 which are latched together by the latches 12 when the hair dryer is stored and transported. The hood 10 is removbale from the base 11 and in the operating position (FIG- URE 3) the hood is supported by the telescoping air conduits 13 and 14. In the operating position the base housing is set on a table or desk which brings the hood into a position to enclose the users head when the user sits on a chair adjacent the table.

The base housing 11 encloses a motor, an air circulating fan, an electrical heater, and a switch for the motor and heater which will be described subsequently.

The air conduit 13 is pivotally mounted to the base housing 11 at pivot 20 and telescopically engages a second air conduit 14. The hood 10 is removably positioned on the air conduit 14 by means of a socket 17 formed in the hood assembly 10. Thus the means to support the hood assembly 10 as Well as the means to convey the heated air from the base housing 11 to the hood assembly 10 is articulated and by sliding the air conduit 14 into the air conduit 13 it is extensible as well. In this manner the hood assembly can be adjusted in height to correctly position the hood on the head of the user.

To store the hair dryer, the hood assembly 10 is first lifted from the air duct 14, since this duct telescopically engages in the socket 17 of the hood assembly 10, and then the hood 10 is free from the supporting conduit. Then, air conduit 14 may be pushed into the air duct 13 to give the minimum length of the two telescoping conduits 13 and 14. The two conduits 13 and 14 are pivoted as a unit about hinge pin 20 located adjacent the top surface of the base housing so that the conduits overlie the top of the base housing 11. Then the hood assembly 10 is placed over the base housing 11 where it seats on the surface 18 of the base housing, it being understood that the circular seat 18 conforms to the generally circular configuration of the bottom edge 19 of the hood assembly 10. In this manner the hood encloses the folded up air conduits sections 13 and 14 as shown in FIGURE 4. The toggle latches 12 hold the hood assembly 10 rigid with the base housing 11 for carrying and storing the hair dryer.

The hood assembly 10 is shown in FIGURE 4 and comprises an outer imperforate rigid shell 25 and an inner perforate rigid shell 26 spaced from the outer shell 25 to define an air chamber 27 therebetween. A plurality of holes or perforations 28 in the inner shell 26 direct the heated air to the head of the user. The air chamber 27 which is semispherically shaped is open to the socket 17 which receives the end of the upper duct 14 and thus heated air from the base housing 11 is directed into the 3 confines of the hood 10 and through the perforations 28 to the hair of the user.

The inner shell 26 of the hood is attached to the outer shell 25 by means of a plurality of screws 29 which are threaded into integrally molded bosses 31 on the inside of the outer shell 25. Air leakage from the hair dryer hood at the periphery edges of the outer and inner shells 25 and 26 is prevented by the gasket 30.

A pivoted extension 40 for the hood increases the volume of the head enclosing capacity of the rigid bonnet 10 in the operating position and at the same time decreases the over-all height of the bonnet 10 when it is stored on its base. The pivoted extension 40 has a spherical shape to closely fit the inside dimensions of the inner shell 26. The pivoted enclosure member 40 is free to pivot as viewed in FIGURE 4 until the lower edge thereof lies approximately flush with the bottom edge 19 of the hood assembly. Generally, it has been found desirable to have the enclosure member freely pivoted so that it drops down to its extended position when the hood 10 is removed from the base 11 and likewise easily pivots inside the hood 10 when the hood is placed on the base housing 11. Thus, the enclosure member 40 automatically assumes its extended position when the hood is placed in its operating position and the enclosure member 40 automatically moves to its retracted position when the hood is stored on the base housing 11. It is readily apparent that the pivoted extension 40 decreases the over-all height of the frusto-conical hood assembly 10 in the stored position.

The unit is stored and carried in the position shown in FIGUR ES 2 and 4. Integrally molded on the outer shell 25 of the hood 10 are two parallel arranged supporting feet 16 which provide a stable base for the generally frusto-conical shape of the stored hair dryer unit. The feet 16 are tapered as viewed in side elevation so that the frusto-conical shape of the stored unit will rest with the edge 50 of the base housing 11 in a stable vertical position. A handle 15 is located opposite the feet 16 for carrying the hair dryer in the stored position.

Referring now particularly to FIGURES 5, 6 and 7, the internal structure of the hair dryer base assembly 11 is shown. The outer enclosure for the base assembly 11 is made of two generally dish shaped moldings which are the lower base member 70 and the upper cover member 71. An upstanding wall 77 integrally molded as part of the lower base member 70 forms the peripheral side wall of a fan chamber 72. A bulkhead 74 completes the upper side of the fan chamber 72. Screws 78 are used to attach the bulkhead 74 to the base member 70.

Mounted on the upper side of the bulkhead 74 is a motor 75. The shaft for the motor 75 extends through a fan eye 79 and on the lower side of the bulk head 74, as viewed in FIGURES and 6, a centrifugal fan 76 is attached to the motor shaft and is suitably positioned in the fan chamber 72. The fan chamber 72 is in the form of a volute and terminates at an upwardly facing exhaust area 73. The bulkhead 74 covers the volute shaped fan chamber and adjacent the exhaust area 73 the bulkhead is at a hi gher elevation (see FIGURE 5) than at the general area of the fan. A resistance heater 80 is attached to the underside of the bulkhead 74 at the raised portion of the bulkhead and serves to heat the air immediately after it leaves the centrifugal fan 76. A heat shield 88 protects the plastic lower molding from the high temperature of the heater 80.

The upper cover molding 71 has an opening 21 which matches and fits against the walls 77 of the fan chamber exhaust area 73 and thus the air is exhausted upwardly from the base housing 11 through the opening 21 in the upper cover member 71 into the conduits 13 and 14 and thence into the hood.

The manner of providing an air inlet for the base assembly 11 is the subject of the present invention. The lower base molding 70 has an upwardly turned flange or side wall 81 and the cover molding 71 has a downwardly turned flange 82 which is generally of a larger diameter than the flange 81 on the base molding 70. A plurality of lands or bosses 83 integrally formed on the lower side of the cover member 71 space the cover member from the lower base molding 70 and thus form an opening 84 between the two halves of the enclosure. The opening 84 is the air inlet opening to the hair dryer and it is to be noted that the air inlet 84 extends completely around the periphery of the base assembly 11 and that air is free to enter around the periphery and pass into the fan eye 75?. Since the bulkhead 74 seats around the fan chamber Wall 77, the space inside the housing 11 and outside the fan chamber 72 and exhaust area 73 is at the negative pressure of the fan 76 and unheated air is drawn through the large diameter inlet '84 and with little resistance to flow since the inlet opening 84 also provides a large cross section area because of the large diameter of the opening.

The upper cover member 71 is attached to the lower base member 70 by means of a plurality of screws 85 .(see FIG. 7) which are inserted from the lower flat supporting surface 50 through integrally molded bosses 86 of the base member 70 into aligned bosses 89 on the upper cover member 71. These aligned bosses also space the two enclosure parts 70 and 71 apart and assist in maintaining a uniform air inlet 84-.

A switch 87 controls the operation of the motor 75 and the heater and the switch is mounted in the upper cover member 71. The electrical service cord and the internal wiring of the electrical parts are not shown since they form no part of the present invention.

The location of the air inlet 84 allows the top surface of the base housing 11 to be closed completely and there is no chance for foreign objects to fall into the air inlet when the hair dryer is in operation. It is also possible to provide recessed pockets in this top surface for hair pins, curlers and other small objects associated with the hair drying operation. Likewise, it is not necessary to provide a filter for the air inlet as is required when the air inlet is on the top surface of the housing 11. The air inlet, since it is adjacent to the supporting table, when it is in operation, also provides a convenient method for drying finger nail polish as the fingers can be supported conveniently on the table surface and the incoming air flows over the top of the finger nails.

While only one embodiment of the present invention has been shown, it is to be understood that it is only illustrative and not to be taken in a limiting sense. The present invention includes all equivalent variations of the embodiment disclosed and is limited only by the scope of the claims.

We claim:

1. In a portable hair dryer having a base unit comprising a pan-shaped base molding and an upper mold ing, said base molding having mounted therein a motor, fan and air heater and having a flat bottom surface on which said hair dryer rests in operating position, said upper molding having an air exhaust port connectable to and supporting a rigid hair dryer hood and having a seat for storage of said hood, the improvement comprising a flange on said upepr molding extending radially beyond the side wall of said lower base molding, a depending w-all at the outer periphery of said flange, integrally formed seating means on the underside of said upper molding contacting the upper edge of said side wall of said base molding at spaced contact areas, whereby a peripheral downwardly facing air inlet to said hair dryer base unit is provided between said base moldin and said upper molding.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said seating means on the underside of said upper molding comprise spaced bosses.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein said upper molding is attached to said base molding by screws extending through spaced bosses on said base molding, said screws being threaded into screw bosses on the underside of said upper molding, said screw bosses seating on the said bosses on said base molding to provide cooperating spacing of said upper molding from the said base 5 molding to form said peripheral air inlet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1930 Emmrieh 34-243 XR 1,961,179 6/1934 Tinkman 34243 3,202,797 8/1965 Uthoff 219370 3,362,086 1/1968 McLean 34--99 FREDERICK L. MATTESON, JR., Primary Examiner HARRY B. RAMEY, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 2 19-3 70 

